Final Fantasy: Melody of Destruction
by Shadus
Summary: Several centuries have pasted since the events that have befallen the world. But now, a new evil has risen and a new group of heroes will fight to defend the world. But many secrets will be discovered in this new story of Final Fantasy.
1. Perlude

**Final Fantasy: Melody of Destruction**

_So many years have past when good and evil clashed as the fate of the world teetered on the brink of falling into destruction. So many years after a group of people joined forces to bring a powerful evil that wanted to bring ruin to the planet for the sake of power to an end. So many years have pasted since that day when the last of an ancient bloodline fell. It has been that long since that battle. All those that remember it are gone and only a small few can fully remember it. The only thing that remains in this world that can be called an artifact of that battle is a small black box whose contents contain the greatest power to roam this earth. Sephiroth's Remains._

_The need to protect these Remains forced it to be sealed within a black box and locked away with nine Keys that were then hidden away to several locations to make sure that no one could find all nine and open the box. Even with this, the chance of someone collecting all nine keys was possible so to counter that possibility, the creation of a small group of people were called forth to be guardians that would protect the remains to prevent it from being captured into evil hands. Six people were chosen to guard this box, taken from many places and each one not knowing a single thing about each other but followed a single objective. That only objective was this: Protect the Remains with your life. But to further the means of protecting the Remains, these guardians were infused with the Remains themselves to heighten their potential and give them the needed edge to make it impossible to retrieve the Remains from them._

_But for every good, there is an evil for it..._

_A man named Takumi Shino arose from the darkness and made it his dark ambition to obtain the Remains and to become a god himself or possibly resurrect the being of the Remains. It is uncertain what he wants, but his greed for the Remains is unyielding. So many attempts he tried to gain the Remains, but failed every time. He has many soldiers on his side, how they joined him is unknown, but their number is incredible. No matter how many times he failed, he returned to once more attempt to gain the Remains for himself._

_But on one faithful night, Takumi finally achieved his life-long desire. He finally gained the Remains and now his dreams will be obtained. But even with the possession the box that holds the Remains, the nine Keys were still needed to open the box and unleash the power of Sephiroth that lay dormant within his Remains. Now, the 6 guardians must find the Keys before Takumi does and prevent the chances of him gaining all the Keys._

_But not all paths are straight, but rather squirm into several different directions to allow more then one objective to enter..._

_There is another group that watches over this predicament. A group that supposedly created the guardian group, the Keys, and are familiar with the past of the great battle that has been forgotten as well as creating a being of infinite power. Not is known much about this group, but the only information that is ever spoken about them is that they always refer themselves as 'the Cult'. Which side they are affiliated with has yet to be told._

_Now, the race for the Keys, Takumi, the Remains, and the mystery behind the shrouded Cult will begin. This is the Final Fantasy of the world._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter I: Infiltration of Catastrophe**

Kyoto. The City of Darkness it was called. The city was built where the supposedly fallen city of Midgar once stood in its glory at reaching the peak of the highest metropolis until the faithful events that soon made it into nothing but an abandon city. The moonlight shined off the reflective metal of the worn out buildings and revealed many approaching the state of rusting. Silence filled the empty metropolis except for the faint noise of the wind that blew through the city and cause faint groans of steel to be released. Several dark colored birds stood ominously around one of the steel barrier entrances of the city as if they were running an endless security watch for intruders. Immediately, one of the birds turned its head in the direction of a noise to the came from the left and the rest turned in that direction. They watched to see what made that noise but nothing stirred to create another noise. But these birds appeared to know that something was there and refused to appear under the moon's light.

Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted with smoking rising into the air and the birds flew off, yelling into the sky as if sounding an alarm and heading towards the center of the city. As the smoke cleared, the entrance was no longer standing but a large gaping hole was made. The instant that hole came into view, it happened. Multitudes of people ran through the hole and filtered into the city, destroying the silence that it had kept for several long years. It was now replaced with the sounds of war cries and feet stomping on the ground and every bird that occupied the walls of the city cawed into the air and headed towards the center of the city. The people followed the birds and soon found themselves at the gates of the very core of the city of Kyoto. The dark Castle of Oblivion.

The Castle stood where the Shin-Ra company headquarters once was. Although it was destroyed, there were still traces of it scattered on the castle's walls. The castle looked exactly as its name said. The castle was built has if it were both a place of housing something of great importance as well as being a place of torture all fused into one building. The left side of the castle was built from dark black marble and was fashioned into a standard form of an elaborate castle with its towers standing nobility before the city. The right was completely the opposite of the left as it had sound structure and the right had a chaotic form of structure. The towers on the right coiled around the left towers as if they were snakes wrapping around its prey and melding into the left to become one. Both towers on each side reached heights that would dwarf the city's buildings and the highest tower that had two additional towers coiling around it appeared to have a full view of the moon. In the very center of the castle above the entrance into its interior and between two large column towers, a large emblem of six blades piercing a shield with the image of a single cat like eye was crafted into the castle's foundations as it appeared to stare at the intruders to the castle grounds. The crowd of people looked at the castle in anger and fear as they watched all the birds of the city circled around the towers, crying to the castle to alert whatever was inside it. But all of them soon turned their direction from the castle to the sound of the footsteps approaching from behind them. They split apart to let the footsteps through while in turn, bowing their heads.

The footsteps were made by a man that appeared to be glowing with malice. He wore an open black monk robes with the appearance of grey dragon scales upon it with its hood pulled over his face to obscure it. Underneath the monk robes was a dark grey robe that appeared to be burning bronze flames etched into its cloth. He continued to approach the gate of the castle as the people watched and form around him as he past them. He then stopped and looked up at the towering gate that blocked his entrance to the castle and his prize. Then, one of the people spoke out. "How are we going to get into there now?!" the person said in fright. "The birds might have been guardsmen and might have told them already that we are here!" The hooded man ignored the person and turned around to face the throng of people. "They may already know we are here," he said coolly as he brought his left hand to his face. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't give ourselves a grand entrance!" He then snapped his fingers and the people waited.

The noise of a deep inhalation was heard and the wind blew south and when it suddenly calmed, it furiously blew forward and the same explosion was made upon the gate just as the one on the entrance. Smoke arose once more and when it cleared, the gate was no more and the doors to the castle lay out before them. The hooded man walked into the grounds of the castle and then turned to the people that were in awe at what just happened. "Now get me what lies in that castle," he yelled in maniacally glee. "And kill anyone that stops you from getting it."

The people erupted with war cries and stampeded towards the castle's doors as the man stood in the middle of the charging people and turned around to see them break down the door and bum rushed into the castle's interior. _This time..._ he thought evilly with an unseen maniacal grin stretching over his face. _Those Remains will be mine!_ A low exhale of approval entered the man's ears and he turned in the direction it came from just as the noise of a low growl was heard. "Don't worry," he told the noise in an affirming manner. "You'll get your turn. Let's just wait for them to make an opening for us." He then walked slowly towards the now ruined castle doors as the sound of the ground crumbling under a heavy weight filled the air with the continuous noise of the birds screaming at the castle towers.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter II: Riot Preventers**

The falling of the castle doors crashed through the empty halls of the castle's interior as the people charged into the large room with three large gate-like doors in front of them. They soon found themselves looking around in terror if the birds alerted whatever was in this castle already and they were prepared. They began to slowly move forward still looking around as the cawing of the birds rang through the walls. Then, the sound of footsteps were heard as it echoed through the room and appeared to be approaching from several different directions. They instantly froze in fear but then filled with anger and gripped their weapons tightly. Whatever came at them, they would kill it and proceed to get what the castle hid. Not even it meant death for them or their comrades. Soon, the footsteps stopped and they held their weapons even more tightly as they prepared for whatever attack would fall upon them.

--

Ryuko awoke as he heard the birds cawing through the open window of his tower. He approached the window and opened to see what the birds were disturbed about. He looked down to see a mass of black figures and one that stood out the most from the other figures outside the castle's gate. He knew this figure all to well to see why the birds were yelling at the castle. "Back again, eh?" he muttered to himself as he looked down at the figure in anger. He walked away from the window and grabbed the staff that rested at the corner of his room along with a sleek broadsword.

He soon preceded out of his room as put his sword in its scabbard. Ryuko then snapped his fingers to create a small wisp of light that formed itself into a small orb of white light. He then ran through the spiraling staircase and banged several doors to wake up anyone that was behind the door, but most of them were empty. "Come on! Get up!" he yelled at one door that opened when he banged on it. He then saw a woman sleeping on her bed with the moonlight shining over her face. She then slowly rose up and fluttered her eyes as if she was still tired. "Let's go Alexina," Ryuko yelled as he started to go to wake the others. "They've returned!"

At that note, Alexina grabbed her crimson gunblade and leapt out of her bed. "Are you freaking kidding me," she muttered to herself as she exited her room to see Ryuko's shadow slowly disappear as he went further down the stairs. "These kids again?" She then followed after him when she found him banging furiously on one door with his fist. "Come on!" he yelled at the door that refused to open. "Come on! We got to get rid of these guys and you need to help Jakger!" Ryuko groaned loudly and then left the door alone. "Fine!" he said as he headed towards the door to the Main Hall. "Stay in there and don't help at all!" Alexina cocked an eyebrow at Ryuko as he muttered angrily to himself and looked back at the door he was bludgeoning to death. _Who's behind this door that would get-_ she started to think until she felt like a large weight was dropped over her body. She stepped back from the door and looked at it as if she now knew what was behind that door. She then headed after Ryuko to the Main Hall door.

A single light swung back and forth from the ceiling and the light of the moon shined from a single window. Both showed a man sitting on his bed with his head deep in thought as his gunblade lay next to him, shoved into the ground to stand straight. He held his head as he thought about the dream he just had before Ryuko started banging on his door.

_Jakger sloshed through the snow as best as he could to reach the woman that lay on a stone altar, screaming as she was in great pain. He tried running but fell down and found himself struggling to get back up. He then heard someone talking in a chant like way and then heard the woman scream as if her body was torn into pieces. When he lifted his head to see what happened, he found his vision obscured by a blinding white light. He shielded his eyes as best his could as the wind immediately blew towards the altar and spiraled around it as if the woman was drawing the wind into her. After several moments, the crying of a baby was heard and the woman was gasping for breath. Jakger opened his eyes to see the woman and he crawled to the altar that she was on. He soon reached it and saw that the woman was looking at someone standing next to her as she placed her hand on the person's cheek. "Take...care...of...my...child..." she said through shuddered breathes. "Protect...my...child..." and then her hand fell off the person's cheek and her arm and hand hanged limply over the altar's side to reveal a series of runes branded into her arm as the woman stopped breathing in front of Jakger. Jakger grabbed her arm and shook it, hoping to bring her to life again. He started to whine and tears weld in his eyes as he shook her arm._

_Then, he felt his body being pulled away and then was lifted into the air. He was then pressed against a shoulder and he looked up to see that a woman was holding him and pulling him away from the woman. He instinctually stretched out his arms for her but the woman then covered his eyes. "You saw too much." she whispered to him as the sound of a baby crying filled his ears..._

Jakger then looked up and grabbed his gunblade and placed if over his shoulder as he heard Ryuko and Alexina walk off. He approached the door and opened it to look around and saw that no one was here anymore. He then proceeded down the stairs and when he reached an intersection, he found someone waiting for him. "Took you long enough," the person said as Jakger walked towards the center of the intersection. "Almost thought you died in your room." Jakger turned his head to the person to let his right eye warn the person with the facial expression of "Now's not the time Adora."

Adora sighed and shook her head. "Alright, but I think you will have a better view of what we're up against from here." She pointed behind her to a balcony that stood over the Main Hall. She and Jakger walked towards it and saw the mass of people look at the door that would lead deeper into the castle. "And if you're wondering," Adora said as she looked at Jakger who looked at the throng of people huddled together in the Main Hall. "Nyte and Weaverly are already with Ryuko and Alexina. Just so you know." She then joined Jakger as they watched the people from above. Four people behind the door and two from up above on a balcony. They were cornered in a pincer attack and they will regret ever trying to enter this castle to take what it protects.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter III: Remove the Outbreak**

Ryuko ran down the flight of steps to find that Nyte and Weaverly were waiting down at the door to the Main Hall already. "When did-" Ryuko began to ask but Weaverly cut him off with a look in her eye and Ryuko stopped himself. "Let's just get this over with." Weaverly said as she turned to face the door and gripped the ridges of the pistols attached to her waist. "Besides," Nyte said as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard. "This should be easy." A slight chuckle was heard and they looked up to see Alexina walking down the steps while dragging her index finger against the creases on the wall. "Easier said then done," she said with a smile and stopped to bend down to give Nyte an unusual smile. "But that's what makes it easier for us!" Nyte looked at Alexina and her smiling face in a confused way but looked away when Ryuko walked towards the doors with his staff over his shoulder. "Alright," he said confidently. "Let's get rid of these guys!" He then banged his foot against the door and it swung open to reveal the mass of intruders prepared and ready to attack and Ryuko brought his staff off his shoulders as the tip of it barely grazed the floor. "Trying again already?" Ryuko asked as Weaverly, Nyte, and Alexina stood next to him and prepared themselves for battle as well. "Guess we should teach you guys a lesson again!" And with that, Ryuko lifted the staff up into the air as it soon then gathered energy from the air and brought it down to send three white orbs shooting into the ground and charge towards the enemies. They then exploded into medium sized white pillars and launched several of the adversaries into the air. Weaverly, Nyte, and Alexina leapt into the mass and soon began battling the intruders in their own way.

Jakger and Adora watched as the intruders flew into the air from the pillars and knew that it was the signal to attack. As the enemies began to fall back to the ground, one was unexpectedly caught by his ankle. He looked to see an upside-down image of Adora holding him and smiling at the fact that he was helpless. "What do you think," she asked as she looked at Jakger who looked at the dangling body of the intruder squirm in terror. "Should I drop him or just kill him now?" Jakger didn't respond but looked at her through his right eye. She instantly got the message and started to loosen her grip on the man's ankle. The man started to quake in fear as Adora's fingers slowly began to pull away. "Have a nice fall." she said with a smile on her face. She let go and the man plummeted to his death. Soon, she and Jakger grabbed the railing of the balcony and leaped over it to join the others in combat. Jakger lifted his gunblade in the air and spun it twice as the wind began to swirl around its blade and was then pointed the tip of it downward to the ground. Adora grabbed the sheath of her sword and gripped it as she smiled slightly at the chance to battle again. When they landed on the ground, Jakger's blade shot out a wave of wind as it drove into the floor that caused any of the intruders not hit by Ryuko's pillars to be knocked back by the shockwave of the wind. Jakger then pulled his gunblade out and placed it on his shoulder. He then turned to Adora as she knelled on the ground with her hands gripped tightly on the sword and sheath on her left hip. She looked at him and he gave her a look that said "Don't get killed."

He then ran off into the mass of people as Adora stood up to see that she was already surrounded by the intruders. They chuckled evilly to see that one of the guardians stumbled so easily into their trap but Adora gave out a small sigh and looked at them with a taunting smile. They were confused by this and watched as she brought her sword up from her hip to her chest. They then saw that the sword was too long for her to fully pull out of its sheath and for someone like her to wield it like that was only amusing. They started to laugh at her but Adora only smiled. The wind blew the tattered cloth that was wrapped around the sheath and she gripped the handle even harder. She then tugged the handle upward and the intruders stopped laughing to see their vision become filled with white light and the sound of a hummingbird's fluttering wings rang through their ears. The white light soon disappeared and only Adora was seen, revealing a small piece of the sword's entire blade and its chime ringing from the blade that reverberated through the entire sword from the handle to the piece of steel that was visible. They couldn't feel why their bodies couldn't move but when she shoved the blade back in its sheath, it became clear. They felt a large portion of their body begin to slowly slide off the other portion and crash onto the floor as blood erupted from the slashed remains of the bodies. She watched as the last body fell as its torso fell off its legs and collapse into the floor. Adora then held the sword limply in her left hand as she cracked her right wrist. "You were too boring." she mutely told the bodies and then proceed into the mass to join the others.

Weaverly reached behind her and felt the grips of the pistols behind her back as the intruders slowly moved around her. One then had the courage to leap out at her, but soon fell to the ground with a large hole square between the eyes. The large one-handed pistol breathed steam from its barrel. The pistol shined silver with four sharp points around the barrel and a crosshair on the left of it. Several kanji symbols were inscribed into the grip of the pistol in grey ink. She then reached for the other pistol, this one the exact opposite of the other, the crosshair on the right, black silver and black inked kanji. She immediately began to open fire at the stunned enemies leaving several holes in their bodies as she fired in different directions as they now began to retaliate. She then halted and felt the grip of the pistols become hot and then pointed them in the formation of a seven and fired, creating a large stream of fire and burn a large numbers of enemies. She grunted softly as a smile grew on her face and soon resumed firing at the enemies around her.

Nyte slashed the intruders mercilessly as they tried to get the upper hand from him by trying to knock his sword out of his hand and make him defenseless. But for every try, they failed. He knew how to use black magic and this allowed him to allow more open time for him to attack but also prevent them from taking his sword. Soon, he gripped his sword tightly and charged to the point it shined a dark purple. He then performed a horizontal slash that released a wave to cause the bones of the intruders to be crushed under the gravity from the wave. Nyte then began to fire multiple waves, making the enemies that surrounded him collapse under their shattered bones and fall to the ground. He then grew tired since that attack drains much of his strength, but he continued to battle the enemies with his sword with unwavering resolve.

Alexina dodged several attacks made at her while playfully leaping over her adversaries and then slashing them with her gunblade. When they soon gathered around her to prevent her from escaping, she simply laughed and put her gunblade in its sheath on her hip. She then began to let her body flow with power and sent it to her hands which turned icy blue and leapt upward. The intruders looked up to see her create a ice beam and fired it downward, causing the entire pack of intruders to instantly freeze in their place while frozen in their ice coffins. She then let power flow to her hands again but this time, her right hand glowed bright red and the left shined bright yellow with blue streaks leaping around her hand. She then clapped her hands together, causing both hands to split their power with the other as she began to descend to the ground. She then brought both open hands faced down to the floor to create an electrical fire to spread around the frozen floor and create large eruptions where the intruders stood. She stood up and flung her hair back to see that all the enemies she fought were now eradicated. Alexina then shrugged as new enemies charged at her and she gripped her gunblade's handle as she prepared for battle once more.

Ryuko blocked the onslaught of strikes with his staff and knocking the enemy back only for another one to strike after it. He finally drew his sword out and slashed one across the chest and soon began his assault on the enemy. They managed to block some of his attacks while he inflicted fatal wounds on them. He soon began to spin his staff around and then slammed it on the ground to create ten clear orbs to rise from the ground. They then began to slowly revolve around Ryuko while increasing speed at an alarming to create a white circle around him. He then lifted the staff up and pointed at the intruders and the circle followed suit. He then placed his sword and staff together and stabbed the circle to create a symbol of Light, and the ten circles broke off the circle and charged at the enemies. They pierced through each one of them and through the other until they collapse on the ground with a gaping hole in their stomach and blood spat out of it. Ryuko smirked but then turned around to see that already more have arrived and blocked the attack that would have killed him if he didn't block it at that moment.

Jakger stood as the intruders surrounded him and wondered why he didn't attack. All this one did was stand there and barely held onto his weapon. But the truth was, is that Jakger was scanning them with his right eye as it scrolled each one of them, placing small red X marks on their bodies as a yellowish orange cross hair moved over them. One grew furious at this guardian and charged at him only to have his life ended with a sword slash across his chest. He collapsed to the ground as blood poured on the floor and Jakger placed his gunblade on his shoulder after the attack. Soon, the others began their attacks and Jakger placed his other hand on the blade's handle. The gunblade started to glow a bright blue as it cackled with small spurts of energy and when Jakger brought it down, it became a wave much like a crescent moon. It slashed through the intruders and tore them in half in one strike. But then, others sprang from behind him, but he turned around and flipped the sword upside-down in his hand. He smiled as the sword glowed red and swung upward to create a blood red pulse that cleaved through the enemies. He then placed his gunblade on his shoulder again only to turn around and see that more enemies have appeared.

The guardians fought well and were defeating the mass of intruders effortlessly but for every one that fell, four more took its place. More and more intruders flowed into the main hall and soon, so many have entered that many have already ran through the open door to go deeper into the castle and find what the castle protected. And with all the fighting going on, a certain intruder managed to slip in with no one noticing his entrance.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV: Race through a Maze of Labyrinths**

The guardians continued to block the intruders from proceeding further into the castle and managed to keep them in the Main Hall. But their numbers were increasing for every fallen intruder. They soon filled the room with their enlarging numbers and soon began running straight past the guardians and ran towards the open door to the inner parts of the castle to find what they were told to find. They didn't care what direction they took or where they might end up but if it meant any means of getting what was in the castle, it was worth the effort. Among them, a certain intruder managed to make it through the door and joined the others to get what was hidden in the castle.

Ryuko started firing beams of white light at the enemies as he continued to back away to allow himself to have room with the continuous intruders began to surround him. Every time one fell, more took his place and it appeared to be as if they were endless. His back slammed into a wall and soon saw himself outnumbered and surrounded. He fearfully looked around him and saw the intruders smile with dark happiness to see him frightened of them. As Ryuko looked at them in horror, he found in the corner of his eye to see some the intruders running into the open door into the inner chambers of the castle. His fear was then replaced with anger and yelled in fury as he slammed his hands onto the ground. The ones surrounding him were confused by this then felt their bodies fly backwards, knocking into their allies. Ryuko then ran to the open door and yelled "Their getting the Remains!" He hoped the others heard him as he charged for the door.

As Alexina continued to dodge attacks as she fought the intruders but soon noticed Ryuko running to the door and knew what was going on. "Damn it!" she yelled and dashed back from an attack at her. She then brought her hands together as they turned dark blue and created an orb of water in between her hands with small droplets rising from the orb. She then pointed it at the intruders and a large beam of torrential water blasted at them, blowing them back with its powerful wave. When she finished the attack, she ran towards the doors as well and found Nyte and Weaverly back to back as they fought a pack of intruders. "They got past the door," she yelled at them. "Ignore these guys! We need to get to the door!" Suddenly, Nyte erected a dark purple dome around the enemies that soon collapsed from the heavy weight the dome created as Nyte and Weaverly ran out of it. They began running to the door and Alexina stayed behind and yelled to Jakger and Adora. "Forgot them, they got past the door!" she screamed but didn't stay for a reply and went to follow Weaverly and Nyte.

Adora heard Alexina's message and growled quietly. One intruder took this opportunity to strike only to have his neck become ensnared in Adora's whip. The blade part of it rested around his neck but soon tightened until it beheaded him in one pull from her. Soon another tried as he flailed his weapon in the air but soon was caught in the leather half of her whip by the wrist. Adora cracked the whip with a powerful swing that caused the intruder's arm to snap out of its place and soon she pulled the whip to the right, forcing the arm to rip off and blood to spray out of the ripped socket as the intruder screamed in pain. She then swung the whip to the left as it threw the arm away and brought the blade part across the upper part of his head and fell to the ground as blood poured out of his wounds. She then swung the leather part against one of the stunned intruders and started using him as a wrecking ball to create an opening for herself and did so as she knocked several enemies away and threw the one attached to the whip against the wall. She then ran towards Jakger to tell him but stopped when she saw him battle many of the intruders.

Jakger did get the message and when he heard it, he pointed his gunblade upward and then brought it to the ground to create a shockwave that caused all the intruders around him to fall flat on their face or shoved back into each other and crashed into a wall. He turned around to see Adora waiting for him and he nodded at her. They then ran towards the door and saw that the others already there. They managed to make it in time to see that the intruders that were entering or getting back on their feet were headed for the door. Jakger grabbed the door's handles and slammed the door in their faces just in time as their weapons pierced through it. "Alright," Ryuko said as he gasped for air and turned around to look at three staircases that led downward. "We'll break into three groups and counter them before they get to the Remains Chamber." Everyone nodded and broke up into groups as they took the three staircases. Ryuko and Alexina took the center, Weaverly and Nyte took the left, and Jakger and Adora took the right. They flew through the staircase finding no challenges since most of the intruders were stopped by the traps to prevent anyone getting this far. Some were impaled by spikes that shot from the walls, some fell into the false floors and descended into a bottomless pit, and some were crushed by the walls closing in on them. Soon, they were all at one of the three doors that led into the Remains Chamber and hoped that what was meant to be in there was still there.

The intruder looked around the room to see it to be much like a prison holding area with chains dangling from the nine pillars around the room that were all connected to a single black box in the center of the room on a pedestal with a single column of light shining over it and was chained to the floor and pillars. He slowly approached it but suddenly stopped. He saw that he was caught by all six guardians with their weapons ready to kill. Weaverly aiming a pistol to the back of his head, Adora with her sword at his throat, Alexina's and Jakger's gunblades across his shoulders, and Nyte and Ryuko with their swords across his stomach. "Give up," Ryuko said with a smile. "And it'll be painless." Soon, they heard clapping from behind them and they turned around to see a person wearing black monk robes with the hood up to hide his face clapping as if watching a spectacle.

"Well done guardians," the person said between each clap. "Well done!" He began to slowly approach them as if nothing happened at all and soon stopped half-way to keep the distance between him and them. "Nearly thought you got me there for a moment." he said as he pointed at them. They turned around to see that the intruder they caught vanished and so did the black box, the chains restraining it either fell to the floor or hung limply against the pillars as the box they were attached to was broken. "What the?!" Nyte exclaimed as he looked at the empty pedestal. "Oh," the person said as if realizing something. "Are you looking for this?" He reached into his robes and pulled out what caused their eyes to widen in horror. In his hand, he had the black box with the chains still attached to it. "It can't be..." Weaverly said as she looked at the person holding the box. "It is." Alexina said breathlessly. Adora then stepped forward and looked at the man in anger. "Takumi." she muttered loudly in fury. The man gave out a laugh. "So you figured it out now?" he said as he reached for his hood. "About time!" he said maniacally. He pulled his hood down to reveal his face to his enemies.

Takumi's face resembled someone that was still suffering from insanity but at an incredible point. His eyes were dark grey that appeared to be much like storm clouds. His hair was pulled back to resemble spikes with a single band over his right eye. "Takumi Shino," he said as he took a bow. "At your service." Jakger stared at him in pure rage and his right eye made it more visible. Takumi looked up at them and smiled evilly. "It's nice to see you all again," he said as he stood up. "But I'm afraid I must go now, since I got what I need." He started to walk away but then stopped. "But don't think I'm all bad," he said as he turned around to look at them once more. "I went ahead of myself to give you a present!" Takumi raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, thunderous footsteps were heard and then replaced with a loud roar to reveal a large silver dragon with wings that cackled with electricity and a tail that resembled a spiked mace. He snorted a black cloud through his nostrils as he looked down at his prey. "Wha-" Ryuko said in fear as he looked at the dragon. "What is that?!" Takumi laughed manically. "This is Yamazaki," he said darkly. "A dragon unlike any other! He hasn't had a good brawl in a while, so I thought you could help him out." Yamazaki roared again and they felt the entire room shake at it reverberated around the room. "But," Takumi said as he lifted a finger that pointed at Adora. "If you give me that girl over there, I'll restrain Yamazaki from killing you all."

Adora reached for her sword in angry but was stopped by Jakger as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Although she knew he was telling her not to attack, she felt fear flow from him and saw him looking in fear at the dragon. She then looked at Takumi with disgust in her eyes with a smile hiding the expression in her eyes. "I don't think so." she simply said and Takumi shrugged. "Oh well," he said. "Can't win them all. Guess I'll just have to let you die." He then reached for the hem of his robe and smiled maniacally. "Have fun." he said and pulled his robe over him to vanish in thin air and to leave the six guardians with a powerful dragon before them.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter V: Of Fire and Fang**

The dragon, Yamazaki, stepped forward and let the earth crack under its weight as its body writhed much like a snake's and the wings still covered in the electric currents it produces and stared darkly at the guardians with dark crystallized green eyes. It let out a deep growl as black clouds shot out of its nostrils that slowly rose to the ceiling, blocking the column of light that once shined on the box that held the contents of the Remains. Now, it flickered in and out as it was blocked by Yamazaki's fumes. The guardians stared in fearful awe at the dragon, Jakger looking at it in confused horror. For some time, no one moved and everything seemed to follow the same. Not a sound stirred and the air appeared to halt as if to see who would move first in this battle. Ryuko then grunted cockily and pointed his sword at the dragon's head. "He's possibly messing with our heads," he said as Yamazaki turned its head in Ryuko's direction. "Takumi must have just sent us a weak dragon infant! I'll take him out in one blow!" He then charged at Yamazaki and leapt into the air. He roared as he brought his sword down across its nose bridge. The attack failed to even scratch the dragon's scales. Ryuko's eyes widened at this failure and Yamazaki then swung his head to the right and threw Ryuko across the room until he collided with the wall. "Ryuko!" Weaverly yelled as Ryuko's body slid down and collapsed on the ground. She began to run towards him only to see the dragon slither between her and Ryuko's body.

It drew its head back and puffed its chest out as it inhaled deeply. It then opened its mouth to unleash a stream of fire at Weaverly who watched in horror as the flames began to approach her. Suddenly, they parted around her and smashed into the wall behind her. She looked down to see that Alexina created a large barrier with the assistance of her gunblade to protect Weaverly as well as herself, Nyte, Adora, and Jakger. Once Yamazaki shut his mouth, the flames settled and became ash marks against the floor and the ceiling as well as a large black circle against the wall. Alexina looked up at the dragon with a cold expression. "Alright," she whispered to it. "You're going down, you bastard." She turned and motioned Weaverly to back her up. She nodded and pulled her second pistol out and twirled both with her index fingers in the trigger slots. Alexina placed her gunblade back in its sheath and felt her hands glow with power. They both then charged for the dragon and it prepared for their attack. Nyte ran over to grab Ryuko's body and tried dragging it to a safe location to get him awake. Adora started to run off to help Alexina and Weaverly but stopped and looked back at Jakger. He was still looking at the dragon in some sort of trance that appeared to be unbroken. She looked between Weaverly and Alexina battling Yamazaki and Jakger frozen in what could be terror frantically as she tried to choose which she should help. She headed back towards Jakger and grabbed the hem of his jacket and shook it to try and break his trance. "Jakger," she said as she shook his jacket. "Jakger! Snap out of it!"

Weaverly fired her pistols at Yamazaki and dodge for every strike it attempted to make on her. She was mainly a distraction as Alexina tried to climb onto its back but the tail proved that to be impossible as its mace-like tail swung around and crashed into the ground making it impossible for her to get an opening to climb up to the back. But during one particular swing, the tail became stuck in the ground and it repeatedly jerked as it tried to pull itself out and Alexina took the chance that was given to her. She leapt onto the tail and climbed up Yamazaki's back and soon reached its shoulder blades and wing joints. She then fired a blast of ice at its left claw just as it was about to lift it to strike Weaverly and caused it to become one with the floor as it was trapped in an ice pillar. She did the same for the right claw and the dragon soon found itself trying to pull three parts of its body out, increasing its anger. Weaverly soon performed the attack by placing the guns into a seven formation and firing a large blast of fire at the dragon. When the smoke cleared, the dragon was still intact but more infuriated then before. It roared angrily and once more tried to pull its parts out of entrapment, only freeing its tail. "How about this!" Alexina yelled and slammed her hands down against its shoulders, sending a fire current across his arms to the frozen hands for them to explode in pillars of red and yellow flames. Yamazaki roared in pain as is stood on its hind legs, waving its injured claws in the air. Alexina took this chance to leap up to its face and look at its right eye. She then pulled her gunblade out and pointed its tip at the dragon's pupil. "Now, bleed." Alexina said darkly and plunged it into the eye.

Yamazaki let out an ear-piercing scream as it flailed its head around, trying to get Alexina and her gunblade out of its now injured eye. It managed to send Alexina with her gunblade to the ceiling where her back created a dent and found herself falling to the ground. She positioned her body and her gunblade to prepare for the fall and when she made connection, she created a large crater in the ground. She breathed harshly as blood dripped from her head and tried lifting her body up but it hurt just lifting any part of her body. Weaverly saw Alexina was in pain and rushed to help her only to be swatted away by now blinded Yamazaki as it flailed about in pain. She skidded across the floor to where Nyte was with Ryuko's body as he tried to attempt healing magic on him but wasn't doing a good job. "Come on," he whispered to Ryuko as a faint orb of light flickered in and out of proportion in his open hand. "Come on." He then noticed Weaverly was next to as breathing hard. "Weaver-" he started to say but was then cut off. "Don't worry about me," she said as she struggled to get back up. "Just get Ryuko back on his feet." Nyte nodded and resumed trying to heal Ryuko. Weaverly staggered forward and looked at the dragon continued to scream.

Jakger watched as the dragon flailed about and felt his entire body refuse to move. It was almost frozen to the bone and wouldn't respond with his urge to move forward. Something about the name of the dragon affected him. It was a name that he never heard until now but it seemed like he knew the name from the past. No matter how hard Adora jerked him by tugging on his jacket, he wouldn't budge. His eyes were fixed on the dragon that now slammed its claws into the ground and started to inhale again. His gunblade was at the point of falling out of his hands when the dragon fired another beam of fire. Jakger faintly heard Alexina scream "Jakger! Adora! Move!" and Adora's voice screaming "Jakger!" and watched as the fire came closer until his vision became engulfed in white light.

_Jakger's vision was covered in darkness and couldn't see anything through what was put over his eyes. Although it was thick, light still managed to enter through and he soon saw that he was surrounded by several people. Although he couldn't see them fully, a white outline of them managed to slip through whatever blocked his eyes. He soon felt himself get picked up and was observed by a woman wearing what could be a strong perfume. "What the hell is this?" she asked in a confused tone. "Don't tell me that you don't know what a baby looks like," another woman said as he was then swapped to a woman with a pipe in her mouth. "You really need to get your head out of your own beauty once in a while." He heard the faint noise of the woman wearing perfume give a small "Humph" until he was then swapped to a figure with a skull like face. He could hear a series of words infused with tongue clicks as it looked at him and it sounded like the figure was questioning how he was found. "I found him near the altar," a woman with a bird on her shoulder said as he was given to her. "He appeared to have found it by himself." Jakger heard that voice when he was pulled away from the woman and assumed that this woman with a bird on her shoulder was the one who pulled him away. "That's interesting," a man with a bandage wrapped around his eyes said as Jakger was then swapped to him. "Never saw that coming now did we?" He was then traded to a woman with what looked like crescent moon shaped earrings on her ears. "This little one managed to find where we were?" she asked in a curious voice but was then snatched by a woman with a shattered monocle held him by his ankle. "Who cares," she said in a malevolent tone. "Just as long I get to test him, then I don't care how he found us."_

_"I think not." said a deep voice that caused the woman with a shattered monocle and the others to look behind them as Jakger did the same. He saw the upside-down outline of an elderly breaded man with a long staff and holding himself up with a gnarled walking stick approaching them. "We must dispose of this one immediately." The group of people started murmuring to each other. "But why?" the moon horned girl asked. "Because he saw what he wasn't supposed to see," the elderly man said, slamming his walking stick to the ground to prove his statement. "If we let him live, he might reveal of the actions we have performed this day." A short silence fell on the group of people until the bandaged man asked "But what about the other child? Shouldn't we be more worried about that infant then this one?" The elderly man appeared to look away as if he did something disappointing. "I'm afraid," he said. "That I have lost the infant." The masked figure appeared to roaring with rage as he screamed at the elderly man as if saying that how could it possible for him to lose an infant. "Calm down," the woman with a pipe said as she grabbed the figure's shoulder. "It couldn't have gotten far anyway. We'll go look for it after we get some idea on what to do with this kid." The figure looked like he was breathing hard and muttered something under his breath as he looked at the elderly man in fury. "I know that losing the infant and the need to find it is important," the elderly man said as if he never saw or heard the figure's outburst. "But the child we have now must be destroyed."_

_Jakger then felt his body fly out off the monocle woman's grip and found himself being held by the crescent moon horned girl and thought he saw her crying. "What do you think your doing?!" the monocle woman yelled at the girl. "I don't want the little one to die," she yelled back, trying to hold back her tears. "I don't want him to die!" He then heard the approach of the elderly man on his walking stick. "I'm sorry," he said in a sad yet commanding tone. "But we must rid him. That is my final-" But before he could finish, Jakger soon heard another voice as it said "Don't you mean that it's my final decision?" and found himself with all the other people looking at the two new figures appear before them. From Jakger's view of their outlines, one appeared to be a woman in ninja attire and the other was also a woman wearing clothes that might have belonged to a noble family. "Your Leadership," the elderly man whispered as both women walked past the others to Jakger and the moon horned girl. "Let me see the child." she asked in a kindly way and the girl looked down at him and then handed Jakger to the woman. He suddenly felt warm as the woman and the other next to her looked at him. The woman looked down at him and smiled as if to remove all his worries. She suddenly looked up and gave a hard look at the others. "We'll let this one live," she said as they started to whisper to each other. "I think he might prove to be useful to us." The elderly man soon stepped before the woman and said angrily "But he saw too much as it is! We must-" "What I say is final," the woman said coldly as the elderly man froze in his place. "And that is the boy lives." The elderly man looked at her and then bowed his head. "As you wish." he whispered and stepped away from the woman. The woman with the pipe yawned loudly and scratched her head. "Guess that settles that then." she said as if after a long nap. "Says you." the monocle woman said darkly as she eyed the woman in disgust. "Are we gonna keep him?" the crescent moon horned girl asked hopefully. "I'm afraid not," the woman said sadly. "We can't keep him with us for I sense someone is coming after us at some point in time. We must give him to someone to raise the child as well as protect him."_

_"We'll leave that decision to you then," the elderly man said as the bandaged man joined him. "We shall go our separate ways now." And then he and the bandaged man departed as well as the woman wearing perfume and the woman with a pipe, the monocle woman and the moon horned girl, and the masked figure and the woman with a bird on her shoulder. The woman still held to Jakger and slowly leaned to the woman next to her and began whispering instructions into her ear. He couldn't hear it but the nod the other woman made was enough to tell Jakger that she understood. In an instant, she vanished and the woman looked back down at him. "Don't worry," she whispered to him. "You'll be alright." She then started to look around and then yelled "Wait!" The masked figure and the woman with a bird on her shoulder turned around. "I want you to be the ones to take this child to his guardian." The figure said something along the lines of why should he be the one to do that job and the woman replied "Because you are the only one that's still here that I can ask to do this." she said. "And besides," she added with a slight smile. "You owe me." The figure muttered under his breath again and then turned to the woman with a bird on her shoulder and told her to take Jakger. "Yes, Master." she replied and approached the woman holding him and waited for him to placed in her hands. The woman looked down and whispered once more to him, "Take care little one." and then placed him in the hands of the other woman. She and the figure then turned around and proceeded in the direction opposite of where they were once headed and then heard the woman that once held him sigh and walked away in a different direction and soon he found himself looking at the woman holding him now and wondered where he was headed..._


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter VI: Destruction for a Lose**

Adora watched as Yamazaki fired a beam of fire at her and Jakger and felt her mind raced as the fire came closer to her and Jakger. She then stepped forward and placed her hands together with the index fingers and thumbs pointing upward and closed her eyes. "Ventus of vicis," she chanted as the wind began to whistle from behind her and felt several lines begin to creep around her hands. "Subsisto quod permissum," she continued as a black orb of aura generated around her hands and felt the heat of the fire that came from Yamazaki's mouth. "Mihi reperio vos!" she yelled as she opened her eyes as the black orb exploded around her as she stared at the ball of fiery mass of flames in front of her that nearly made contact with her. The orb's aura spread out through the entire room, turning the place in a bright shade of white and froze everything in a time freeze, causing any actions to be, soon to, or after execution to slow down to point where time appeared to be that every second lasted an hour and an hour a week except for her. Adora looked at the beam of fire and watched as the flames rippled slowly like a pebble that was thrown into a pool of water. She then looked around to see the dragon with its mouth open, bearing all of its fangs as the beam of fire slowly started to disappear from its mouth and Alexina yelling, her mouth moving slowly to show every syllable of which she was saying. Weaverly appeared to be starting to get herself up as she was running towards her and Jakger with Nyte slowly turning away from Ryuko's unconscious body to see what was happening with a look of horror in his face. She then turned around to see Jakger staring at the fire in front of him but only his right eye was looking at the fire, the left was rolled into the back of his head. She then turned around to see the ripples of fire slowly start to speed up and began to find out that time was starting to start up once more and knew that soon enough it would soon return to the normal flow it follows. Adora quickly turned back to Jakger and grabbed his body and with all of her strength, she threw herself and Jakger to the right just in time to evade the beam of fire.

The beam collided with the wall as Adora pushed herself of Jakger's body and fell to the floor in exhaustion. She then heard the dragon roar in fury to see that its attack missed and thrashed its tail around angrily. She slowly got her feet only to be slightly dizzy since using the time freeze ability drains most of her stamina. She breathed heavily as she reached for her sword but her vision started to become hazy and found the dragon charging straight at her to finish her off with its fangs. She closed her eyes as she prepared for the worst and felt the dragon's breathe on her body. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see that Jakger was awake and blocked the assault with his gunblade with the dragon's fangs straining to break through the blade and fall on Jakger's shoulders. He turned around and gave her a look that asked "Are you alright?" She smiled slightly to see that Jakger was fine and nodded at his question. He appeared to smile and then turned back to the dragon's open mouth and shoved the fangs upward and then created another crescent moon wave from a downward swing to strike the dragon. Yamazaki roared in pain as it stumbled backward from the attack but quickly healing from it. Jakger then pointed his gunblade at it and nudged his head in an attempt to draw it into battle. It roared with approval and slammed its claws and feet into the ground and snorted black clouds from its nostrils to show it was prepared to battle.

Alexina, Nyte, and Weaverly watched as this happened and were glad that Jakger was helping them. At the same time, Ryuko finally awakened from Nyte's healing and got up and headed towards where Jakger and Adora were standing and Nyte followed. Weaverly and Alexina did the same and soon, all six guardians were standing before Yamazaki again but unlike before, they were ready to battle it. "So," Ryuko said as he looked at the dragon in a cocky look. "How are we gonna bring down this thing?" Alexina looked over and shrugged. "Don't have any ideas right now." she said as she looked back at the dragon that was getting testy as nothing was happening. "Isn't it obvious?" Weaverly said as she placed her pistols in their holsters. "We gotta kill the thing." Nyte looked at her like she was asking the impossible. "And how do you suspect us to kill it?!" Nyte asked hysterically, but stopped when Jakger positioned himself so that he firm standing for an attack. "I'll kill it." he said and everyone looked at him in surprise. Adora gave a small laugh and said "Well, that's good enough for me." Jakger stared at the dragon and it did the same, making it appear that both were linked some how but both held a deep hate for each other. Jakger then turned around looked at the others with a look that said "Distract him while I get ready." They nodded and ran off to the dragon as Jakger began to prepare his attack.

Ryuko spun his staff in the air and then brought it down to create several halos around him which soon flew towards Yamazaki and wrapped around its ankles, wrists, throat, and tail as they created a link to Ryuko's staff to make sure it didn't have the chance to move and strike. Alexina performed her ice magic on the ground to send a wave of ice towards the dragon and create four pillars of ice around the dragon's arms and legs and then proceeded to slam her gunblade into the ice to send a current of lightening through the ice to electrocute it as it roared in pain and tried to escape its entrapment. Weaverly charged at the dragon's head as she pulled her sword from its sheath. She leapt onto its head and approached the left eye as the right was caked in dried blood, forming a shell around the eye. She then plunged the sword into its left and pulled one of the pistols out and blasted at it several times to further invoke the pain and the reached for the sword's hilt and slashed its eye. Yamazaki bellowed in agony as blood poured out of the now damaged eye and began to flail its head wildly in both an attempt to knock Weaverly off its head as well as removing the blood blocking its eye. Weaverly leapt off before the dragon threw its head to the left and turned around to fire several more bullets from her pistol just before she landed on her feet and flipped out of the way. Adora ran head on towards the now blind dragon and unfurled her whip. She smiled as she leapt into the cracked the whip with the bladed end to wrap around the dragon's neck. The whip soon tied itself around the dragon's neck and Adora soon began to flip around Yamazaki's neck, forcing the whip to drill itself past the scales and inflict pain as it drove deeper into the muscles of the dragon. After three flips, Adora pulled the whip tightly as she flipped into the air with the whip giving one last drill into the dragon's neck, making it howl loudly with pain as blood shot of its neck. But she didn't land like she thought as she unknowingly saw that the dragon threw its head to the left and the whip, still slightly attached, threw her to the left wall with tremendous force. She slid to the ground to see that she was now bleed from the head, but she also landed on her leg, possibly breaking its bone.

Jakger remained positioned with the gunblade pointed at the dragon which was now writhing in pain from both the assault on his left eye, the attack on his throat, and the thunder current passing through the ice pillars and electrocuting his body as well as squirming to free himself from the pillars and halos that were preventing him from moving. Jakger felt his power rise to found that his aura was charging through his blade as it was surrounded by a bright red mist. He then placed his left hand against his right arm as he stared angrily at the dragon and his right eye scrambling through several attacks to find the one he wanted to perform. "Hey," Jakger yelled at the dragon, stopping it from its squirming and looked at Jakger with its blood stained eyes. "You shouldn't have messed with us." He whispered but the message rang out through the room. "Now you will die for trying." The others knew what was going to happen and soon ran either side of the room so that Jakger's attack wouldn't be directed at them as well. Ryuko lifted his staff to shatter the link between the halos as he ran to the left and Alexina pulled her gunblade out of the ice as it stopped sending a current to the dragon as she ran towards the right. Yamazaki roared the loudest it ever did and charged at full force at Jakger, now free from the halos and the weakened ice pillars with the intent to kill. Jakger's right eye found the attack it needed and it glowed with its color of crimson red. Jakger looked at the charging dragon to see its mouth open with all of its fangs bared. And at that point, it was like time slowed down for them. "Goodbye." Jakger said emotionlessly as the dragon's mouth was at the point of swallowing him whole.

A large blood red beam was fired as it ripped through Yamazaki's body, tearing it into two complete halves and caused a spray of blood across the floor, ceiling, and walls of the room as well a large hole to one of the walls which reached outside of the castle and a trench leading the same way that stops before Jakger. The halves soon collapsed on top of one another and every looked at Jakger. Unlike them who got some of the blood on them on them, Jakger was hit with a full blast of it, drenching his entire attire in bright red. He then shoved his sword into the ground from the exhaustion of the attack. Adora lifted herself and gingerly joined the others as the gathered around Jakger. He was breathing heavily, showing that the attack he performed took most of his strength, but it was enough to get rid of Yamazaki. "Good move you got there," Ryuko said in amazement. "You managed to kill that thing in one blow!" Jakger turned to look at him with a look that said "Let's forget who we are after all." Suddenly, maniacal laughter filled the room.

"Good job, guardians!" the voice said as if to congratulate them. "You didn't fail to surprise me! And you defeat one of my best soldiers! Good work!" Weaverly soon stepped forward and looked around in anger. "Takumi!" Weaverly roared to the room only to have a response of more laughter. "I'm not here at the moment," Takumi's voice echoed through the empty room. "But I would like to you leave you with a little message. In the chance that you defeated Yamazaki, I rigged this entire city with explosives. You see, the trigger was connected to Yamazaki's heart and if that were to stop beating..." A short silence filled the room as if to raise the suspense. "You get the idea," Takumi resumed. "So, if you want to live, then you better get out of this dingy place in about, oh, ten minutes. Hope you survive so we can get more time to know each other but until then, farewell!" He then cackled madly as his voice slowly faded away, but was soon replaced with a loud rumble that shook the foundations of the castle and the entire city of Kyoto.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter VII: Setting Moonlight on a Quest**

Everyone looked around in fear as the room quaked from the sudden tremors that shook the castle and the city that encompassed it. Rocks fell from the ceiling to create small craters on the ground as the pillars around the Remains' pedestal started to collapse. "We need to get out of here!" Alexina yelled over the loud noise of the shaking room as she reached for Jakger's left arm and threw it over her shoulder. "I know that!" Ryuko retorted angrily just barely being missed from a suddenly large boulder that fell down. "Well, we just can't stand here and just state the obvious!" Weaverly said as she approached Ryuko with her fists clenched together. "Like you can tell all of us what to do?!" Nyte screamed at Weaverly, drawing her attention away from Ryuko who was also had his hands balled into fists. "We can't just stand here and argue with each other!" Adora told the others as she tried to calm them down. "Oh and you're the leader?" Alexina said sarcastically as she turned to Adora who was barely managing to stand with her whip's tail sprawled out on the ground. "You can't stand up on your own two legs let alone direct a group of people!" Adora felt anger flow through her veins that gave heat to her body and soon found her right hand tighten over the whip's handle and the left reached for the sword's. "Want to try me?" she snarled quietly as she looked at Alexina. Alexina chuckled like an innocent child as she reached for her gunblade's hilt. "Don't mind if I do." she whispered as if this was what she wanted all the time.

For a few short seconds, Alexina and Adora stared death at each other for some time as the others quarreled among each other and Jakger remained silent with the rumbling still going on. Alexina gave a small tug just as Adora did the same with the chime of her blade escaping the sheath to mix with the rumbling. But before either could battle, Jakger roared "Shut up!" so loudly, it appeared to even quiet the quaking. Everyone turned to look at him as he struggled to stand up but failed to and was repeatedly saved by Alexina who still had her right against his shoulder. "Put your sword away Alexina," he said quietly. "You too, Adora." Neither put their swords away and looked at Jakger as if he was something they never seen before. "I said," he stated again in a darker tone. "Put your swords away." Alexina and Adora looked at each other one last time as Adora frowned at Alexina who returned with a small sly smile. They then sheathed their swords and soon noticed the quaking started to increase in strength. Already, they wasted time arguing with each other to the point where two of them were to battle one another. "We don't have much time left," Jakger stated as he finally lifted himself up as he shrugged off Alexina's hold on him and headed to the door that lead straight to the Main Hall with his gunblade as a crutch. "Let's get out before the entire place caves in." The others nodded and began to run towards the door and soon climbed the stairs with Alexina throwing Jakger's right arm over her shoulder again and helped him run up the staircase. "Thanks," she muttered to him as she tried to keep up with the others while carrying Jakger. "For stopping us from getting at our throats." Jakger looked at her with a look that said "Someone in this group has to be the one with reason and I guess I'm that someone." Alexina chuckled as she looked to see that she was right behind the others. "I guess your right." she said as the group ran through the open door into the Main Hall. Adora had trouble keeping up with the group as she was straining her broken leg and felt as if her muscles were tearing each other apart from her injury and her head spun from the blow that was dealt when Yamazaki threw her into the wall. When the entire group stopped at the Main Hall, she had the feeling that she would collapse on the ground. She forced her body to just stand the pain for a little longer as she began to wrap her whip to her right hip.

The Main Hall still contained the dead bodies of Takumi's helpers with their blood staining the ground. Now, most were crushed under several large rocks and some were under a now broken balcony. "We need to get out quickly!" Ryuko brought up as the quaking started to become even more violent. "I know a way," Alexina brought up but then stopped she felt Jakger bent down and rubbed his blood stained hand against the ground. "What are you doing?" Ryuko asked questionably as he watched. Jakger looked up and said "Just leaving a mark." The others looked at each other and didn't know what to say or do. Adora was the one most shaken by this as she looked away and began to walk forward but was then stopped by a sudden idea. "Hey Alexina," she said, breaking the groups' attention away from Jakger's blood stain mark which also pulled Jakger himself away from it. "Yeah?" Alexina asked hesitantly, not knowing what Adora was thinking. "You know wind magic right?" she asked turning back at her. "Of course," Alexina said, pulling Jakger back up. "Know the highest level of it as well." Adora then smiled and walked back to the group. "Good." She then pushed everyone together with her in the front and she turned around and told Alexina over the now crumbling castle "Push all your wind magic into your feet and let it explode from there!" Alexina did as she was told and pushed her power into her feet to feel the sense of floating and then let it go and soon found herself and the others watching the surroundings swirl around them.

The buildings of the city appeared to be falling from the quake as well as the shock of what could be the castle's towers and the collapsing of the buildings that was happening and soon they were at the gate and Adora yelled "Stop!" and Alexina felt her feet feel heavy again and soon felt the smooth grass underneath her. The group soon noticed that they were several meters outside of their home on top of a hillside that over looked the city below and turned around to see it crumble. Suddenly, a large red beam fired upward from the castle and soon a large dome explosion appeared and devoured the castle and the buildings in both fire and smoke which soon spread towards them. Alexina reacted to it and created a barrier around them and prevent the debris and smoke from getting to them. As soon as the explosion happened, it ended, showing the six guardians the place they once called 'Home' was now gone.

--

"So, it seems that Castle Oblivion has been destroyed." an elderly bearded man said as he stroked his beard. A woman with a broken monocle over her left eye snorted at his remark. "It wasn't worth my time building it anyway." she said as she looked away from the projection of the now obliterated city of Kyoto in disgust. "The place was ugly anyway." a woman wearing perfume remarked as she sprayed a burst of perfume over her neck and soon started to fan it so that it could spread around. "You could at least remember that the city was built on ruins," a woman said as she took a drag from a pipe of hers. "Or maybe you forgot how _ugly_ it was." The woman wearing perfume glowered at the woman with a pipe as she fanned out the smoke trails the woman with a pipe made. "But why did the place have to be destroyed?" a girl asked in a sorrowful tone with crescent moon shaped earrings. "No clue, darling." the woman with a pipe said as she shrugged. A man with a skull shaped masked said something that might have meant that it was destroyed on purpose for a certain reason. "It does seem logical," a woman said with a bird on her shoulder. "Someone could have done this deed for an unknown reason besides collecting the Remains." A man wearing a bandage over his eyes sighed in agreement. "It is possible." he said as he turned to the elderly man for a response. "I think we should find out this person who committed this crime," the elderly man said as if stating an order. "And destroy him immediately!"

Just then, a woman in the attire of ninja and another woman in noble attire approached the projection of the destroyed city. "I think we shouldn't proceed with that." the woman in noble attire said as she looked at the projection. The man with a skull shaped mask responded with a question that seemed to be why they shouldn't go find out who destroyed the place where the Remains were hidden. "Because," she responded with a smile. "The guardians are still alive." The projection soon changed to show the six guardians of the Remains looking at the destroyed city. "They know who did this and we shall help them defeat that person." Everyone muttered at this but the woman in noble attire said "We shall return to the havens we made for ourselves and wait for the guardians to locate us. Until then, we shall depart." She then looked at everyone with a stern look. "But remember, we don't where this person could be and what he is planning so stay alert." The others soon left, leaving the woman in noble attire and the woman in ninja attire alone. The woman in noble attire soon looked up slightly and the woman in ninja attire asked "What is it, My Lordess?" The woman in noble attire looked at the woman in ninja attire and said "I thought I just felt someone. Someone that I knew in the past. And another that could be the one we created. But I'm not sure." She then turned to the woman in ninja attire with a smile on her face. "Let's go now," she said calmly. "We don't want to be the last ones here." The woman in the ninja attire nodded and both soon left the room with the projection of the six guardians fading into darkness.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter VIII: Start of Journey's Path**

The wind howled as it dragged any remains of smoke in the air away from the ruins of the city. No longer were there towers of buildings appearing to touch the sky for they were now ripped down into nothing but scraps of metal littered on the ground. The gates that surround the city were now shattered and became a stream of broken arches on the ground. And the castle that the guardians lived in, the Castle Oblivion was removed from where it stood at the center of Kyoto and appeared to be nothing but rumble, its towers now only barely to reach off the ground and the emblem now buried in the ruins. The guardians looked at their destroyed home that was nothing more than a mere crater in the earth. They watched as the moon's light shined down on the ruins to illuminate the dismantled shards of the city shined brightly in the light. Adora looked away from the site and walked towards a nearby tree and laid her back against it as she slid down its trunk to the ground and groaned in both pain and sadness as the sound of thunder rang through the sky. She looked down at her lap and soon hugged her legs in sorrow and gazed sadly at the group in front of her. She wondered if they felt the same emotions she was feeling but she looked at Jakger, she knew what he was feeling. He was in that castle more then the rest, possibly even the first, and could tell he had a connection to that castle. The others did have a kind of connection to the castle like her but Jakger's was greater then any of theirs. He looked at the site as if he was bundling up his agony and sadness with the attempt to resist the urge to scream out for the entire world to hear him. The others looked at it, Weaverly hanging her head, Nyte trying not to look at it at all, Ryuko whispering a prayer, and Alexina on the verge of tears. Adora was almost like her but held it in, not wanting to show too much of her feelings but she did let one tear fall down her cheek.

The sound of thunder was soon over the guardians as dark grey clouds approached the ruins as if to cleanse it with the slow arrival of rain to follow. It started off small with one drop and then another after a short time until they all fell together. Ryuko finished his prayer and gave out a loud sigh. This broke everyone's attention from their ruined home and looked at Ryuko. "Guess we better get going." He said as began to walk off to the tree next to the tree Adora was laying against to get out of the rain. He then bent down and started to heal Adora's broken leg which felt as if the pain was slowly disappearing. "But where?" Alexina questioned as she followed after him and watched Adora's healing. "We have no other place to go!" Nyte soon came up after her with his head nodding in agreement. "She's got a point," he said. "Where can we go?" Weaverly walked to over where Adora was and pressed her back against the tree. "I guess we should go after Takumi then." she said in a defeated way. "Yeah," Ryuko agreed but then stopped. "But where could he have gone?" Everyone started to think but Jakger soon said abruptly "The Keys." The others looked at him as he turned to face them, the right side of his face appearing to be crying because of the endless stream of raindrops falling on his face and clinging to his face and eye. "Takumi will be after the Keys." Ryuko appeared to understand what he told them and soon stood up and reached into his jacket to pull out an old piece of parchment. He unfurled it slowly and everyone looked at what the parchment's contents told. Even Adora with a now healed leg managed to push herself up from the tree to see what the parchment had. The parchment was a map of the entire realm where they lived. It showed several cities and towns with little markings of a bright black 'X' for certain cities and a large circled 'X' that was the city of Kyoto with several other drawings to show mountains, lakes, and forests.

"What is this?" Adora asked as she studied the parchment. "It's a map." Ryuko replied as his eyes darted around the map. "This map shows where the Keys to the Remains are hidden. And the closest one is..." His finger began to trace a southern path to a town close to Kyoto that was near a series of mountains. "Fubuki!" Nyte exclaimed as he read the name underneath the 'X' of the town. At the sound of 'Fubuki', Adora's eyes widened and her skin went pale. She stepped back towards an adjacent tree and everyone watched her in confusion. "What's wrong?" Weaverly asked worryingly as she looked at Adora who appeared to be terrified of something. "It's nothing," she said breathlessly. "I'm fine." Alexina looked back at the town's name and back to Adora and finally realized what was going on. "Wait a minute..." she said as if putting all the puzzle pieces into place. "You're from Fubuki, aren't you Adora?" Adora knew Alexina was right about her being from that town and with a hard gulp; she lowered her head in defeat. "I'm from Fubuki." she muttered to her feet, not wanting to look at the others. "Then it's settled," Ryuko said triumphantly as he rolled the map up and placed it back in his jacket. "We're going to Fubuki and prevent Takumi from stealing the Key from there!" The group nodded except for Adora who stepped in front of them with her arms spread out as if making a barrier. "Please," she pleaded. "Can't we go somewhere else that has one of the Keys?" Weaverly looked at her in confusion and stated "But this is the closest Key that we can reach." Adora looked at them as if they were turning against her. "I know that," she started to plead again, starting to feel her body tremble. "But can't we-"

Her words were cut short when she looked to see Jakger was in front of her. She felt as if she was about to cry but Jakger's face told her "We need to get to this place to prevent Takumi from taking the Key." The urge to burst into tears overwhelmed her as she looked at Jakger and the others, but took a deep shuddering breath and sighed as she removed the urge. "Alright," she whispered as her arms fell back to her sides. "I'll take you to Fubuki." She turned around and began to walk off. "It's this way." she stated and the others soon followed after her as she continued forward. They soon marched through a lightly dense forest as the rain continued to fall on them. Adora led the group with Jakger after her, Alexina next, then Ryuko, Nyte, and Weaverly bringing up the rear. Jakger looked at Adora and saw that her face was as if she was afraid of going to Fubuki. _Why is she afraid of going back to her home?_ he wondered as he looked at her in curiosity. He then looked forward to see a series of mountains start to rise over the horizon.

_Jakger felt the woman with a bird on her shoulder continue to carry him with his head gently resting against her shoulder. "Where was the Lordess sending us?" she asked the figure in a skull-shaped mask. He said something along the lines of delivering Jakger to someone in a mountain area that would be able to take care of him. "I see," she said and looked down at Jakger. "Will this mean we'll use her assistance to get there?" The figure must of have said that they would. Another series of footsteps other then the two people with Jakger was heard. "About time you got here!" the footsteps said angrily and Jakger looked to see a man wearing a neck guard with his arms crossed. "Why do you always take so long on these things?!" The woman with a bird on her shoulder replied calmly "That information is not to be told to a rank such as yours." The man wearing a neck guard soon pulled his arms apart and started cracking his knuckles as if he was looking for a fight with the woman. "What did you say?" he said threateningly but stopped when the figure stepped forward. He then said something that might have meant that if he laid one piece of his skin on hers, then he will rip that skin from his bones. The man glowered at the figure and then the woman and then at Jakger. "Who's this?" he asked as he looked at in loathing. "That's none of your concern," the woman said calmly as she walked past him with the figure. "What you should be concerned about is where the others are." He then chuckled and smiled. "Don't need to be concerned about those two," he said as he started to trail behind them. "Who can miss a big girl like her and a pip-squeak with a big mouth?"_

_The three walked on with Jakger still wondering where he was being taken but stopped when he heard a noise that sounded like boulders falling down a mountain. He then felt the group stop and he looked to see a large outline of a girl that appeared to be the size of a small house kneeling down as she was shoveling snow into her mouth with her hands as an outline of a boy with devil like horns yelled at her. The figure yelled at both of them and both stopped their actions. "Sorry." the girl whispered to the figure as if asking for forgiveness. "What do you mean 'sorry'?!" the devil like horn boy yelled at her. "You're stuffing your face of snow just to feed yourself and I'm starving over here!" He then attempted to kick the girl in the right ankle but ended up hurting both her and himself. She bent down and held her ankle in pain as the boy jumped on one foot as he stubbed his toe. The figure then yelled even louder as if telling to cut the antics and pay attention. The girl and boy both stopped and looked at the figure. The woman then stepped forward and told them "We will be taking this child I am carrying to the mountain range of the Toshiro Mountains where he will be raised by someone that the Lordess believes will be able to perform this task." Both the boy and girl remained silent but then the man spoke out. "Why is the Lordess so keen on protecting that kid?" he asked. The woman faced him and replied "That has yet to be told." She then turned to the girl and looked at her. "Will you please take us to the Toshiro Mountains?" The girl nodded her head feverishly. "Of course!" she said in glee. She reached out with her left hand with the palm face up and the woman, man, figure, and boy climbed into her hand. Jakger suddenly felt as if the wind was crushing against him as the girl stood to her full height and cupped them with her other hand to make sure that they didn't fall out of her hand and began to run off in a unknown direction._

_He heard the girl's footsteps ring in his ears as she ran and couldn't even see the outlines of the others since there was no light entering from the girl's hand but soon they stopped and he wondered what happened. He then saw light again, knowing that she stopped cupping her hands together. She then knelt down and let everyone off her hand to walk on solid ground again. Jakger soon saw an outline of a simple house just in front of a pathway entering a mountain range. The house included a well off to the far corner of it and there was also a fence to the right of it. The woman carrying Jakger and the figure approached the door of the house and the woman knocked lightly on the door. No one responded for a few seconds and the woman knocked again only louder. Once more, no one answered and the figure grew annoyed at this. He then approached the door and pounded it with his fist. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" a voice rang out. They then turned to the left with Jakger to see an outline of a woman carrying two large pails in her hands appear from the left. "Sorry," she said breathlessly as she walked towards them. "I was taking care of things at the moment." The figure groaned and must have muttered something about why did he have to do this job. He then approached her as she placed the pails against the house's wall and appeared to ask her if she received a message from a certain woman in ninja attire. "I have." she said as she fixed herself with her voice sounding like nothing about getting a message was suspicious at all. "Then you know what you are to do with this child." the woman with a bird on her shoulder said. She handed Jakger to her and bowed to her. "The Cult thanks you for taking this burden of ours." The woman appeared to smile at the other. "It's the least I could do." The figure turned around and muttered something about thinking that this woman might turn Jakger into something less then a fighter and then told the woman with a bird on her shoulder to come along. "Yes, Master." she replied and faced the woman one more time and bowed. She then ran off after the figure who was now climbing back into the girl's hand with the man and the boy. Jakger watched as the girl once more ran off into the distance and looked at his new holder._

_She looked down at him and placed him on the snowy ground. She then knelt down and pulled the covering off of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and blinked hard to focus it and what he saw was made him gasp in awe. The woman's face was like an angel's, calming and protective with eyes of a soft ocean blue that were so soothing to just stare into and skin of a bright pale. She smiled at him and rubbed his left cheek with her hand. It was soft to the touch and Jakger wanted her to keep that hand his cheek. "It's alright now," she whispered to him. "Whatever you saw is done now. It's alright now." Jakger suddenly felt his eyes weld up with tears and he ran into the woman's arms. He cried into her shoulder and she held him closely as she stood up. "It's alright," she whispered soothingly to him. "It's alright now..."_


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter IX: Village of the Frozen Snow**

The guardians trudged along the woods as the rain continued to pour from the clouds above them. Most of them were excited to see where Adora grew up, Jakger being the least excited. Only Adora was afraid of going to Fubuki. Every time she moved closer to it, the more the urge to turn around and run was increasing. She looked as the mountain ridge of the Itegumo Mountains looming in front of her. "We're nearly there now." she said aloud to the group nearly in a depressed voice. "Alright!" Ryuko said in glee as he soon ran pass Adora to get to the village more quickly then just continue approaching it at slow pace. "Hey!" Alexina yelled after him as she gave chase like trying to be the first into the village. They sped on ahead as the others trailed behind to notice that the rain was now much colder and started to cling to the ground. They realized that now the clouds rained down snow causing most the members to shiver except for Adora who was used to this weather. The forest now was covered in a white sheet of snow in a matter of minutes as they continued forward and their breath becoming visible in pale grey mist. Adora started to feel the chill since much like the others, her clothes and skin were soaked from the rain and the snow was only making it worse, but she still moved on as if no change in temperature occurred. She looked ahead to see that already Alexina and Ryuko were getting out of her range of vision and yelled "Hold it!" This managed to catch both Alexina's and Ryuko's attention as they turned around to face her as they continued running forward until they collided with a sudden wall and fell into the snow covered ground. The others immediately ran towards them only to stop to see what the wall was.

Alexina fell flat on her behind as Ryuko went slightly tumbling down, landing with his face flat on the snow. He pushed himself up as he spat out snow from his mouth as Nyte and Weaverly pulled Alexina to her feet. "What was that for?!" he yelled as he brushed any remaining snow off his face. "Yeah," Alexina said in agreement as she wiped her legs clean of snow. "Just what the hell was that?!" The others looked at this wall to see it was a large muscular man that appeared to be a barbarian. He had a jacket that appeared to be much like a wolf's with the fangs hanging over his shoulders. His shirt was fragments of spare armor placed over one another with the pants in the color of beige with leg armor. His boots were that of what could be the hide of a lion's. His arms were crossed as he stared darkly at them. Ryuko started to approach him with the look of telling him that he should move out of their way but Adora got there first. No one moved except for the wind that blew the flakes of snow in the air. "Nice to see you again," Adora said emotionlessly as she broke the silence. "Father." The others looked at astonishment as they looked from Adora to this man that she called 'Father'. He didn't say anything for a short time but then said quietly in a deep voice "It's been awhile." Adora gave a small nod but didn't seem all that glad to see her father. "It has," she said. "Will you still let me enter the village?" The man looked at the other members, especially Ryuko and Alexina who were the ones that barged into him. "Are these people affiliated with you?" he asked as he eyed all of them. "They are." she answered and waited for his response. He didn't let any form of answer escape from his mouth but showed it when he walked away from the group. Adora turned around to her companions and smiled slightly and followed her father. The group still remained astonished by this discovery and soon returned to their senses and followed Adora and the father.

Once they got up, they reached a large archway with a village that appeared to be an old medieval village with the design of the current century behind it. The houses resembled much like small cottages but were made from steel. A large hut off to the far upper left corner of the village was supposedly were the steel was created since there was a large chimney expelling smoke every so often. Further from the hut, a large opening to the bottom of the mountain was seen, raising the idea that the village ran on whatever was discovered inside the mountain. Many people were seen scampering between house to house, going about their daily life, with the children enjoying life as they played snowball with each other and slide down the small snowy hills in amusement. When the group followed the man into the village, the atmosphere in the village changed. The people formed two lines between the group with the man in front, then Adora, Alexina, Ryuko, Nyte, Weaverly, and Jakger in the back. The people looked from the group in bewilderment but mostly focused their gaze at Adora. They began to whisper among each other as she glanced at them from left to right. She managed to hear them speak about her sudden arrival after she deliberately ran away from the village and why would someone like her join these people. Although some muttered about the others, Jakger gained much attention just like Adora. The villagers were terrified of this person and most either just whispered to the other that he must be some type of being that was told in nightmares or stories used to frighten children.

Some the mothers with their children wanting to go see the newcomers to the village were pulling them back to them and backing away, afraid something might happen to them if they were allowed to go near them. One managed to pull himself and ran towards Adora yelling her name in glee. He hugged her left leg and Adora stopped to look down at his body clinging to her leg. Suddenly, the mother of the child ran after him and pulled him away from his embrace and looked at Adora in forgiveness. She then walked away without looking away from Adora until she was back among the other villagers. Adora felt both confused and sad at the fact that some of the children were glad to see her, even when she left her home. When she was about to start walking again, she caught a woman wearing a white hooded cloak looking at her through the pulled up hood covering most of her face with three children at her legs from the corner of her right eye. Adora couldn't tell but almost knew that the woman didn't stare or talk with the others, but only appeared to look at her and the group. Adora ignored this and moved on as the others did and didn't even notice the woman. Jakger also looked at the woman with only a quick glance but then stopped. He turned back to look at her again only to find that she had disappeared from throng of people and the children hardly noticed that she was there.

He looked around to be sure that she didn't just move from her location but there was no sign of her. He then shrugged and continued following the group as they approached what could be a large house that would belong to a nobleman. As the group left, the villagers crowed the path and started talking altogether about what are they doing here in their humble town and how could Adora end up being with people like them. From above on a single tree with icy blue leaves stood a raven, staring at the group as they moved closer to the house as if monitoring every movement they made.


End file.
